Our survey among directors of children's services (DCSs) lays bare how spending reductions are being frontloaded in the coming financial year 2011/12 - with cuts across England averaging 13 per cent and the worst-hit authorities preparing to slash a whopping 25 per cent from their children's budget. This compares with council cash reductions in general of 28 per cent spread over the next four years.
Our study also reveals a sad irony, coming just days after the publication of MP Graham Allen's early intervention report to the government: the services at most risk are those that intervene early to prevent costlier problems mounting in later life. Children's centres, as well as youth centres and Connexions services are cited by the DCSs as among the most vulnerable. The survey, completed by 25 children's services chiefs across the country, provides the firmest indication yet of the reality of the spending reductions on the ground. It would suggest that tens of thousands of jobs in children's services departments nationwide are at risk.
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